Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia The Art of Henri-Matisse Manuscripts

Dates:

circa 1931–1932

Extent:

6 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection consists of background materials and drafts in manuscript, typescript, and carbon copy form, as well as galley
proofs and page proofs for The Art of Henri-Matisse by Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia.

Code:

AHM

Language:

The majority of this collection is in English. Some material is in shorthand.

Adrienne Pruitt. Finding aid written by Adrienne Pruitt,
September 2006.

Access Restrictions

The Barnes Foundation Archives is currently closed for research while staff complete grant-funded projects to process the
collection. Please contact the Archives for information on access and research.

Use Restrictions

The Barnes Foundation’s writings files are the physical property of the Barnes Foundation Archives. The Foundation holds literary
rights only for material created by staff of the Foundation and material given to the Foundation with such rights specifically
assigned. For all other material, literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns.
Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication
and for other purposes where stated.

Dr. Albert C. Barnes established the Barnes Foundation in 1922 to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation
of the fine arts.” Following his successful collaboration with Foundation teacher Violette de Mazia on The French Primitives and Their Forms from Their Origin to the End of the Fifteenth Century (1931), Dr. Barnes embarked on a project dear to his heart: “a comprehensive investigation” of Matisse, whom he regarded
as “the foremost painter of the day.” Barnes first met Matisse in 1930, when the artist asked to visit the Foundation during
a trip to the United States. During his visit, Dr. Barnes proposed that Matisse create a mural for the Main Gallery. By December
of that year a contract had been signed for the work that would be The Dance mural. Dr. Barnes was eager to include a reproduction and an analysis of the mural in his book, but in early 1932 it was
discovered that Matisse had been working from mistaken measurements and therefore work on the mural was delayed. Disappointed,
but determined to publish the book as soon as possible, Barnes and de Mazia continued writing, including only a brief reference
to The Dance in the biographical essay on Matisse.

The authors had a massive amount of information to organize, having generated over a thousand pages of notes during their
1931 research trip to France. Several Foundation staff members assisted them: Laura V. Geiger and Mary Mullen took dictation
in shorthand, typed up notes and drafts, and edited punctuation and grammar, while Nelle E. Mullen compiled catalogue data,
obtained reproduction rights for the illustrations, and oversaw all of the administrative and business details of publishing.
Foundation teacher Edward T. Dreibelbies helped to verify catalogue data, and longtime Foundation associate Laurence Buermeyer
refined the text where necessary. Barnes was also careful to acknowledge coauthor Violette de Mazia’s contribution to the
book. He insisted that the publisher add her biographical information to the book jacket, declaring “the detail work which
puts guts into the skeleton is ten times more her doing than mine.”

The majority of the manuscript was written at Brides-les-Bains, a resort town in the French Alps. In July 1932 Dr. Barnes
wrote to his publisher describing their writing schedule: “We expect to stay here for three weeks and plug away on the manuscript.
Incidentally, in the mornings we walk three miles to a swimming pool of warm, alkaline spring water, spend about half an hour
in the water and get back to work by about ten-thirty. The rest of the day and usually up until ten or eleven o’clock at night
we are working on the book.” With such grueling work habits, the authors managed to complete the book in late summer of 1932,
and it was published on January 13, 1933.

The Art of Henri-Matisse is a case study in which Barnes and de Mazia apply their method of objective, verifiable, scientific analysis of artworks
to the oeuvre of a living painter whom Barnes greatly admired. The book was dedicated to Leo Stein, from whom Dr. Barnes had
acquired his first two Matisse paintings in 1912, and who, Barnes wrote, “was the first to recognize the genius of Matisse.”
The writing displays Barnes’s signature interest in psychology, with chapters on “The Psychology of Matisse” and on “transferred
values.” A chapter comparing Matisse and Stravinsky grew out of lectures given by Barnes at the Foundation and further develops
his longstanding interest in the interrelationships between music and art. Although Dr. Barnes was satisfied with the text,
he feared it was “too meaty and too scientific to be a popular book,” and his concerns proved to be well-founded. The book
was not a critical success and sold slowly. The authors were untroubled by the book’s lack of acclaim. Barnes wrote to Henry
Hart, “I am sure the book will live, and I am equally sure the world is not yet ready for that kind of study. That the time
will arrive when both these factors will come into their own is not more doubtful than that the sun will rise again.”

This collection consists of background materials, drafts, and proofs for The Art of Henri-Matisse by Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia. Background materials include extensive notes dictated by Barnes and de Mazia at
the 1931 exhibition Henri-Matisse: exposition organisée au profit de l’Orphelinat des arts at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris, copies of letters from Barnes to John Dewey regarding Matisse, and notes on lectures given
by Barnes in the Barnes Foundation Gallery comparing Henri Matisse and Igor Stravinsky. Shorthand transcriptions of a lecture
by Barnes on Renoir and of a lecture by John Dewey on “Expression and Expression in Art” can also be found in the notebooks
of background material.

Drafts of The Art of Henri-Matisse are in manuscript, typescript, and carbon copy form. There are few extant drafts, perhaps because the book was written in
just over a year, and perhaps because, as notes written on surviving drafts suggest, unsuccessful or unnecessary drafts were
deliberately destroyed by the authors. Catalogue data compiled by Nelle E. Mullen, Violette de Mazia, and Edward T. Dreibelbies
is documented by a significant amount of correspondence with collectors, gallery owners, museum staff, and Matisse family
members. This correspondence pertains to Matisse’s biographical information and painting history and contains details of provenance.
Also of interest in the final notes and indices are manuscript notes regarding a palette of Matisse’s owned by de Mazia, and
several lists describing Matisse paintings hanging in the Barnes Foundation. Corrected page proofs and galley proofs complete
the collection.

Includes notes on Matisse's use of color, a draft of "The Music Lesson" analysis, and a list of paintings with dates and dimensions.

"Strawinsky - Matisse." Typescript and carbon copy notes

November 1, 1931

1 Folder(s)

Notes on a lecture by Dr. Barnes given in the Gallery, comparing Matisse and Strawinsky, with a list of the music played.

"Merion Notes, Items to be checked in Paris." Notes in typescript, carbon copy, and manuscript form

1931

1 Folder(s)

Includes notes on Matisse's personality, use of color, and use of other artistic traditions. Also includes a list of books
and articles to be read as background, a list of paintings held in the Barnes Foundation with their dates and dimensions,
and copies of letters by Albert C. Barnes to John Dewey.

Typescript and manuscript notes

1931

1 Folder(s)

Includes notes on Matisse's personality, drawing, development of technique, color, and use of distortions.

"Vo's longhand notes." Manuscript notes

1931

1 Box(es)

Envelope in which "Vo's longhand notes" were stored

1931

1 Folder(s)

"Points from chapter on Matisse and Strawinsky." Typescript notes

January 3, 1932

1 Folder(s)

"Matisse and Strawinsky." Typescript notes

1932

1 Folder(s)

Notes on a lecture by Dr. Barnes given in the Gallery, with a list of the music played. Annotations by Violette de Mazia.

"Matisse and Strawinsky." Typescript notes

May 8, 1932

1 Folder(s)

"Matisse - Strawinsky." Carbon copy notes

circa 1931-1932

1 Folder(s)

Annotations by Violette de Mazia.

Typescript and manuscript notes

1931-1932

2 Box(es)

Notes arranged alphabetically by subject. Includes index.

Typescript and manuscript notes and subject index of paintings

1931-1932

6 Folder(s)

Notes in typescript, carbon copy, and manuscript form

1931-1932

1 Box(es)

Includes a copy of a letter from Lawrence Binyon dated January 18, 1932.

Corrections by Dr. Barnes, Laurence Buermeyer, and Laura V. Geiger. Includes: Pitcher with Flowers, Two Figures in a Park,
The Window, Standing Nude Near Window, Houses at Fenouillet, Reclining Figure in Landscape, Flowers in Glass Vase, Interior
with with Seated Figure, Small Jar, River with Aloes, Still Life with Bust, Still-Life with Lemon, Shrimps, Boy with Butterfly
Net.

"Miscellaneous Works of Art." Draft, typescript and manuscript, corrected

September 1932

1 Folder(s)

Corrections by Violette de Mazia and Laura V. Geiger.

"Carbons of Matisse analyses not published in book." Drafts, typescript and carbon copies, corrected

Laurence Buermeyer's working notes for the index, on index cards, corrected by Dr. Barnes, Violette de Mazia, Mary Mullen,
and Laura V. Geiger.

"Index of Matisse's Paintings." Draft, carbon copies

1932

1 Folder(s)

"Data on Pictures Mentioned." Draft, typescript, corrected

circa 1931-1932

2 Folder(s)

Index by alphabetical title and by year painted. Cardboard cover includes an illustration in ink and colored pencil. Corrections
by Violette de Mazia and Laura V. Geiger.

"Data on Works of Art Mentioned." Notes in manuscript, typescript, and carbon copy form, and correspondence

1931-1932

7 Folder(s)

Includes correspondence between Dr. Barnes and Foundation staff and a variety of collectors, gallery owners, museum staff,
and Matisse family members regarding catalog data on certain paintings. Also includes notes on Matisse's palette, a list of
paintings by Matisse hanging in the Barnes Foundation as of May 1932, and a brief biographical sketch of Matisse.

Corrections by Laura V. Geiger. Note on front page states that Chapter XXI on Matisse and Strawinsky was removed on October
28, 1946 (most likely for the publication of the 2nd edition of Art and Education).